Author: hereandthereclaire

Wow what a week it’s been!

Lots of fun, lots of stressful admin!

But the good news is my apartment sale completed on Friday!! 🎉🎉

The confirmation was delivered in typical Garden House style by 3 gorgeous women decked in rainbow sparkles and feathers singing an Eminem song!!! 🌈😍🌈! Bloody fabulous. ❤️

The stressful admin part came from now having to manage and protect the money, thus making lots of financial decisions! This is something I have a real aversion to. I understand why and where it stems from, but that doesn’t make it any easier.

Finding & opening various accounts, online (another stressor for me 😫) was just horrible, I swore alot! Unfortunately it wasn’t something that could be done in advance. But, it’s done, the money is now safe and I can try to relax and enjoy the adventures to come.

Rebecca, Chris & I were in Perth for the weekend. This was planned to celebrate their wedding anniversary and fortuitously my apartment sale! 

Rebecca had planned a few things, an Art Show & a Light Show. 

I have never actually been into Perth city, I’ve driven through it a few times but not explored it. 

We had booked a lovely hotel near to the park that the light show was going to be in, this was also a shortish walk into the centre of Perth.

We arrived on Friday evening and spent the evening in the hotel for dinner (not great🫤) and celebratory Bubbles (great! 😁). 

We lucked out with the weather, it was a little grey initially but dry. 

It felt so weird walking into the centre of a city on a Saturday and seeing barely any cars and very few people. We arrived in the CBD (central business district) around 10am and it was dead. Quite a few shops and cafes were closed, no cars on the roads…..strange! 

We had a little mooch around and then found a lovely Italian Cafe for some breakfast. 

The centre of the city is pretty compact and easy to navigate, once you’ve got your bearings. 

We made our way to the Art Gallery of Western Australia for the art show. 

The show we were going to see was ‘Time . Rone’ 

This was a 12 room multi – sensory immersive experience. 

“Time has worn away much, and dust has settled over the detritus. But through the peeling paint and cracked ceilings, life persists. Faces search out for something, for all of eternity. Ghostly illusions from the past meld with mirrors into the future. For now, they’re all here with us, frozen in time” 

I found the installation incredible. The level of detail was insane. Every room was different and conjured different thoughts and feelings. 

One of the rooms was an old office typing pool, seeing all of the tiny details in the desk drawers, the handbags and personal items left behind was amazing. 

Another room was an old Pharmacy, again the detail was off the chart. This room in particular I found extremely emotional, because lying abandoned on the counter was an old bottle of perm lotion and a couple of perm rollers, these were such a vivid reminder of my mum it floored me. 

If it ever makes its way to somewhere near you, or you are in Perth you should definitely go and experience it.

The gallery also had an exhibition of year 12 students work. OMG! Unbelievable level of talent, such diverse mediums and subject matter. I was so impressed by all of the work. 

Up on roof was some fabulous sculptures, a great Henry Moore. Seeing the sculptures with a backdrop of new and old buildings and construction equipment was stunning. My lovely friend Colin would have loved it. 

Following the gallery we had to pop into Tiffany’s as my watch needed a new battery, I was hoping they could fix it there and then but sadly it has to be sent away, and won’t be back before I leave Australia, so I am now watchless, which I hate. 

I was impressed that I managed to exit the shop without being tempted by all of the sparkly things, well I was tempted, obviously, but I was strong 💪 and left empty handed. 

We grabbed some lunch then walked down to the Quay, which was very pretty, I loved the light on all the glass buildings. 

We walked from here back to our hotel. 

At this point my feet had been hurting for a while! I have a thing with the tendons on top of my foot, which seem to ‘Twang’ every now and then, which really hurts. 

I knew we had the light show in the park to walk around. 

Luckily we opted to get a taxi from the hotel to the park entrance (it was a fair way and uphill) Again we were so lucky as we dodged a shower and by the time we started walking around the park, it was dry, clear and with a beautiful full moon. 🌝 

‘Lightscape’ is another fabulous immersive installation set in the grounds of Kings Park. 

I wasn’t sure what to expect. You follow a path through the park and the installations. It was very pretty and the views of Perth were beautiful. I hadn’t factored in the fact that the damp air meant that the trees and park smelt wonderful. Making it a real sensory experience.

There was one part called ‘Meadow of lights’ which was indeed a meadow covered in small colour changing lights the music that accompanied this was so beautiful and moving. I loved it. 

The whole experience was great, there was even a little kiosk halfway round selling Prosecco! Happy days. 

The day was finished off with a gorgeous meal at ‘Long Chim’ a fabulous Thai restaurant. 

By the time we got back to the hotel we had walked over 12 miles, which I think is pretty impressive, my feet were less impressed! 

We all had a fantastic time in Perth, unfortunately for my beautiful Rebecca the weekend ended with her feeling very poorly. A visit to A & E discovered that she has a large cyst on her ovary and is now waiting to have it operated on. She is OK but it is going to be horrible to leave her. 

The rest of the week has been spent chilling with Rebecca, Chris was in Perth for work, getting my hair done and organising myself for my departure today!! 

I’m looking forward to starting a new chapter of my adventure. 

I think I’ll like Kuala Lumpur, I do love a city, they are interesting and full of history, culture and things to do and see. I love just walking around absorbing it all. 

Thats it for now. 😍

I think I’ve only managed 1 book this week! To be fair I have been reading travel blogs and banking terms & conditions!! 

Profile K By Helen Field. I enjoyed it, creepy but OK. 

Have a great day. 

Good morning lovely people. 😍

So it’s been just over a week since my last blog and it’s been a busy ole time. 😄 

First & foremost. I have finally exchanged contracts on my apartment after 5 long months! Hooray 🥳🥳

It all happened on the evening of 10th! I will complete tomorrow, 19th July. 

I owe a huge “Thank you” to Tish, Ian and the rest of the team at Garden House Solicitors who, as always, have gone above & beyond in order to facilitate not just my apartment sale but my life in general. I don’t know what I’d do without you guys. ❤️❤️

I will admit to having mixed feelings around the sale. 

Moving to Newquay and to my gorgeous apartment in 2017 was a huge scary step. It took my life in a completely new and exciting direction. I was able to travel. I opened the awesome “Coffee on the Corner” with the fabulous Nikki initially, then on my own and with lots of help from many gorgeous people; Roshan, JC, Pippa, Faye, Jenna and of course my beautiful Georgia 😍 

I met and became friends with so many wonderful people that Newquay very quickly felt like home.

All of these things gave me the confidence to make another huge scary change. Sell up, pack up and ship out! 

As of tomorrow I will be, jobless & homeless! How exhilarating! 

I hope that the apartment brings as much joy and happiness to its new owner, that she spends many awestruck hours watching the incredible sunsets and enjoying the peace & tranquility. 🧡🩵

I have spent the last week planning & booking planes, trains, buses, ferries and hotels! 

It’s a little more tricky doing it all yourself and I’ve made a few errors! 

I booked a hotel, changed my plans, cancelled it realised I’d cancelled the wrong hotel in the wrong location then had to re book but for different dates, then cancel the right hotel in the right location, or something like that! 🤦‍♀️ Luckily I’m using Booking.com and opted for the free cancellation, always a good idea. 

It is surprising how long it takes to plan and organise things. I like to read travel blogs, especially ones by solo female travellers. Blogs also help me to understand the best, cheapest and most efficient way of moving around. 

I love a train, but sometimes the train isn’t the best or safest option. Buses in some places are a great idea, again it’s the idea of slow travel, taking in the scenery, meeting people and enjoying the journey. 

I’ve managed to organise things until around the 7th September. So not bad! This covers 3 countries and various modes of transport.

I will be leaving Bunbury on Thursday 25th July. My journey will start with a bus trip to Perth Airport. I organised the bus as it’s cheap, quick and saves Rebecca a long drive back on her own. 

It’s a night flight, and I arrive late afternoon, so I’ve booked a nice little lounge! 😊

My first stop is Kuala Lumpur! I’ve never been before, apart from stopovers in the airport. 

Any tips or suggestions would be great. 

Kerry, I know that you and Richard have been, so any advice, just let me know. 

Unfortunately I’ve had to curtail my stay in Malaysia as it’s a little more expensive than I’d like. I think this is partly due to the time of year. It’s Winter in Australia so peak travel time for holidays in nearby hot countries! 

I think that’s it for now, I have managed to fit in a few books.

Every move you make. C.L. Taylor.
A thriller about victims of stalking. Interesting, a good read. 

The lost bookshop. Evie Woods.
A free prime book, so I wasn’t expecting much but I really loved it. A fun, quirky, magical story. 

The Teacher. Time Sullivan.
Book 6 in a series about a police detective DS Cross. I have read the first 5 and love them. They are a little different, but highly enjoyable. 

Have a fabulous weekend all.

Rebecca, Chris & I are off to Perth tomorrow for the weekend! 🎉❤️

PS the picture of the mauve flower is on Rebecca’s Jacaranda Tree, it flowered for the first time in her Birthday! 💜

Let me start by saying a huge Happy Birthday to my gorgeous Twinkles, Grantley & Georgia! 25 today. 🎉🧡

It was also my beautiful Rebecca’s birthday yesterday! ❤️

It’s a busy month for birthdays in the Marginson-Swart/Wills/Mann family. 

I know it’s been a while since I last posted. 

I was hoping to post with some positive news on my apartment sale, but alas that is not to be. This is due to the completely ridiculous conveyancing system we have in the UK coupled with the unbelievably slow & pedantic way my buyers Solicitors have conducted themselves. We were due to exchange contracts last Tuesday but at the last minute my buyer realised she hadn’t in fact organised the rental of her other home (or some such bollocks!) I have been assured that all parties want to proceed and things are moving, albeit at a glacial pace! 

Things only got moved along to this point after the intervention of the indomitable Patricia Ling! 😍 Who is a legend and another birthday celebrant this week. Cancerians are Fierce! ❤️

The weather here continues to do its best to counter any homesickness by imitating the British weather remarkably well. Rain, cold, storms, a little bit of sun every now and then, just to keep you from losing the plot completely! 😂

I’m still searching for the perfect Coffee Shop. I’ve tried a couple more, but no winner yet. The biggest issue I have is the weird lack of WiFi. This means writing my blog is ok, but posting isn’t. 

There is a little family run corner shop by Rebecca called Mangles Corner Shop. They sell a limited range of supermarket items, but they do lots of hot & cold food for takeout, sandwiches, pie’s, salads, chips, homemade cakes (my favourite is a Lemon Melting Moment) They also do delicious coffee! 

What they need to do is crack on a build an outside, covered seating area! This would then be the perfect place to go, I wouldn’t even mind if they didn’t have WiFi. 😍😍 I’ll mention it to them next time I’m in! 

Rebecca continues to enjoy her new job, she has also now done 2 shifts with the Ambulance Service, which she really enjoyed. So proud of her involvement with this. 

Chris has also started a new job today! He is going to absolutely smash it! 

It has been quite the month here with so many changes and a fair amount of ups & downs, uncertainty & stress! 

With this in mind and after feeling a little frustrated about the apartment I booked myself a cheeky little Wine Tour down in Margaret River. 

I decided to also book a hotel for a couple of nights and make a weekend of it. 

I booked the tour with a company called “Margies Big Day Out” It was meant to be! For those that don’t know, my nickname in Newquay is “Margy” 😀

I drove down in Chris big ‘Ute’ as this was deemed to be the safer option as it has bull bars for any Kangaroo incidents. I love driving the ‘Ute’ it’s big, it’s manual and it looks a bit badass! 

I drove down on Friday, in some gorgeous sunshine 🌞 I had a little mooch around Margaret River Hight Street. Grabbed lunch at a fabulous, recommend burger place called ‘Normal Van’ for many years they operated out of a mobile van, but have become so popular they now have a fab place in town. My burger was delicious! 😋 

The sun continued to shine so I drove out to ‘Surfers Point’ at Prevelly Beach. It’s stunning. Gorgeous sandy beach’s right on by the mouth of the river. It has some huge waves which makes it the number one surfing location In Margaret River. Unfortunately I didn’t see any surfers out. It was a fabulous place to chill and watch the ocean. 

From here I headed to my hotel/B & B/Lodge A really gorgeous place called “Karriview” I’d found it on Booking.com and it was a really good price and within the pick up area for the wine tour. I was so pleased with it.

I was greeted by the owner, Richard, who was lovely. 

My room was massive, like the bed!

I had a big terrace overlooking the grounds. 

I was treated to my first up close sighting of Kookaburras!

The Lodge has substantial grounds bordering the National park, so 

I had a walk around the grounds and saw more Kookaburras, parakeets, galah’s and a couple of huge kangaroos! It was simply a beautiful, peaceful place to be.

One of the reasons I chose it was because it had a restaurant which meant I didn’t have to drive around at night trying to find somewhere to eat. 

The restaurant was offering a limited menu, but luckily for me one of the options was a risotto!! 

The one on offer was pumpkin & chorizo, but Andrew the other owner and Chef kindly offered to swap the chorizo for bacon and I have to say it was delicious! 😋 Not as good a Jaques, but definitely yummy. 

Andrew and I were chatting and it turns out he lived in Newquay for a while and worked at The Mermaid in Porth! Small world. 

I slept like a log in my enormous bed and woke to a glorious sunrise! 

After a light breakfast I was picked up by the lovely Russell, in his trusty minibus which was blasting out 80s tunes! 

I chose a seat across from the door, big mistake! The door was a tad draughty the weather was very cold and windy and I was the first pick up. This meant that I sat on the bus in a draught with no heating for the next 90mins! 🥶 

The bus filled up with lots of lovely people, mainly couples and pairs of friends. 

We arrived at our first winery, Javis Wines. A small boutique winery. I was very excited, mainly about getting off the freezing bus and into a nice warm building. Unfortunately this was not to be! The winery had just opened and the guy doing the tasting hadn’t put the heating on! Fuck! He was so cold that his hands were shaking (either that or he’d had a very heavy night!) 

The wine was good, the emphasis is mainly on the reds, which are not my favourite but were very pleasant, and helped to warm me up. 

Before returning to the bus I offered my double seat to a couple who’d had to sit on the single seats, they were very pleased & grateful. My cunning plan worked! I was now sitting away from the door & the bloody draught!! 😂

Next stop was another boutique winery called Peacetree. We did the tasting at their shop in a quirky little town called ‘Cowaramup’ where it would seem that wearing cow themed onesies was a thing! There were also lots of statues and cow themed stuff…weird. 🐄🐄

Peacetree and our host Josh were fantastic, as was the cute dog, Jasper. 

The winery is a small family run, organic estate so the wines are low in sulphites and tasted delicious. I liked their Rosé which was dry and light. I also liked their Syrah Pinot Noir, both of which are whole pressed, meaning the grapes, seeds and stems are pressed all together.

The Margaret River area is renowned for its Chardonnays and I have to say they were very good. 

By the end of this tasting everyone is a little more chatty and friendly. 🍷🤪 We even persuaded Russell to change the music from 80s to more recent party tunes! 

Next stop a funky Brewery called ‘Cheeky Monkey’ we all had a drink and this was also our lunch stop. Most people sensibly ordered pizzas which came out very promptly, I ordered chicken tenders which arrived pretty much as we were leaving. Luckily they bought an extra pizza which I had a couple of slices of, It had been a while since breakfast and I was starving. 

Off we went to our next Winery, ‘Knotting Hill Estate’. I have been here a few times on previous tours, it’s a lovely estate, especially when the suns out, sadly not today. The wines were good, but I definitely preferred Peacetree. 

Our final stop was CBCo Brewing. Again a fabulous spot in good weather, it had lakes, a driving range, ducks! However, by now the weather was terrible, really windy and chucking it down. A few brave soles went outside to play golf but the rest of us got drinks and stayed near the fire!! 🔥

I was convinced I would be the last drop off, so was preparing myself for a long, draughty drive back. Luck was on my side and I got dropped off first! Result. 

The whole day was great fun, the wineries were lovely, the company was good just a shame about the weather. 

My final night At Karriview was lovely, being nice and cosy listening to the gathering storm, which blew all night. 

That’s pretty much it for now. 

I haven’t made any further plans yet. Fingers crossed I’ll hear positive news this week. 

I haven’t even read that much, shocking! 

Yellowface by Rebecca F Kuang. I enjoyed it, it was an interesting read and also interesting to read a book where you don’t actually like many of the characters! I would recommend it. 

The Ruin by Fervla McTiernan. An Irish detective story, the first of a series. Enjoyable. 

Invisible Women by Caroline Criado-Perez a fascinating book about Gender data bias and how this impacts and disadvantages women in all aspects of life including, healthcare, education, the workplace and policy making. I haven’t finished it, but I would highly recommend. 

Happy Wednesday everyone.

❤️💚🩵💙

It’s a month today since I arrived in Australia. It’s gone by so quickly! 

I would have hoped by now that my apartment sale would have moved on, but sadly not! It’s incredibly frustrating and irritating. There is very little I can do to change the situation apart from complain, which I have been doing! The buyers Solicitor moves at a snails pace and is incapable of communicating effectively or promptly. 

The upshot of the delay is that I’m stressed & anxious. 

It also impacts of my travel plans. Where I go next will, to a large extent be determined by cost factors. Until the sale goes through I don’t want to travel to the more expensive areas; The East & Gold Coast in Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Japan. 

I would need to focus on cheaper areas; Malaysia, Bali, Vietnam, Cambodia, possibly Thailand again. However these in turn are dependent on weather and geography. I don’t want to be taking lots of flights, I’d like to travel overland or by ferry as much as possible and ferries don’t run all year round or out of season. It also makes sense to go to Japan from Vietnam for example. 

I could opt to stay in Bunbury for the next 2 months as my visa allows, but it’s cold and going to get colder and there is very little to do, beach bbq’s and the pool are out of the question right now! 🥶

I know, I know, it’s very 1st world problems! I understand how incredibly lucky I am to be in this position, just having a little moan, it’s my blog and I can moan if I want too! 😂

Any suggestions or ideas would be gratefully received! 👍

I’ve had fun mooching around Bunbury trying to find the best coffee shop! Some observations:

The Australian coffee game is strong! 💪 great coffee pretty much everywhere but the coffee culture is different to Newquay. 

Very few places have customer WiFi, which I find very strange. The food offerings are fairly standard; Toasted sandwiches (with lots of meat) sausage rolls, muffins, cakes. I haven’t found anywhere veggie or vegan yet. I’m sure this is very different in the cities. 

People don’t seem to ‘hangout’ in the coffee shops, it’s more grab & go. I’m looking for the Australian equivalent of Coffee on the Corner!! 😍 Somewhere to sit, chill, write my blog, read my book and possibly have a chat. 

I’m currently sitting in a place with delicious coffee and Banana Bread but no wifi and not very cosy. 

I’ve continued with my swimming, still at 10 lengths. 

I’ve been on another 10k bike ride, less hills this time! 👍😂 I went to Ocean Drive but via the circular route around the Big Swamp, it was lush and a little breezy. 

Rebecca is loving her new job, she is a customer liaison officer in the radiation department of the oncology unit at the Hospital. It seems like a much better fit for her. 

We had a pretty relaxed weekend. Rebecca & I spent Saturday doing her favourite thing. Op Shopping. This means spending a frankly torturous amount of time trawling through all of the Charity Shops in and around Bunbury!! (There are lots of them, and they are massive! 😳)

I did manage to get myself a new scarf and a jacket, in the first shop within the first 3 minutes!

To be fair to Rebecca she did limit her shopping time to be kind to me, so we were only out for 5hrs 😳🤯🥺 

As compensation we stopped at the Farmers Market on the way home for some delicious Lime Cheesecake then the drive through off licence for some well earned Rosé! Yes, they have drive through offies!! Mad. 😂👍 

On Sunday we had a nice drive down to a typical small Australian town called Bridgetown. The weather wasn’t great but we had a lovely walk by the river. Then popped into a bonkers sweet shop! 🌈🌈 Finally we visited a fab Cidery! Yum. 

Some more interesting observations about Australia:

Selling Vapes is illegal! Smoking them isn’t, but selling them is. 

They love a bit of High Vis! 

Food is really expensive.

They eat a lot of meat!! 

Books read:

Resurrection Walk by Michael Connelly. A Lincoln Lawyer book with Harry Bosh. Great, love these books. Nice easy reading. 

The Last Girl to Die by Helen Fields. OK, not great, not bad. 

That’s it for now. Keep your fingers crossed for me for some progress on the apartment sale this week!! 🤞🤞

Have a great week.

Lots of love. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Here I am now 3 weeks into my ‘Big Adventure’ I feel like the ‘Adventure’ part is on hold a little while I just try and collect my thought’s and regroup after all then sorting, packing and organising I’ve been doing for the last 3 months!  

To be honest I do struggle a little with the whole ‘doing nothing’ thing! This is something I plan to rectify. 😃 Rebecca & Chris benefit from this as I’m happy doing washing, cleaning , shopping etc. it’s the least I can do for them.

I’ve had a great week. 

Progress on the swimming front. I’ve now got up to 10 Lenghts! 🎉 which I’m happy with for now. I’ve also introduced pull ups at the deep end of the pool using the starting blocks. 

It’s so lovely to then be able to use the spa facilities after my swim. Heaven.

I mentioned in my last blog that Rebecca was doing some first aid training. Last weekend she spent the whole weekend training down in Busseleton. 

What I hadn’t quite grasped is that having now completed the training, my Rebecca is going to be a volunteer first responder for the WA Ambulance Service! I’m super impressed and very proud. ❤️

I went down to Busselton with Rebecca last Sunday and while she was learning to drive an ambulance, I pootled around the town. 

The weather was pretty blowy and there was another big storm heading in later in the day. 

Busselton has an extremely long tourist jetty at 1.841 meters it’s the second longest in the world. It has an underwater observatory at the end. 

As I was being half blinded by wind and sand I opted not to walk to the end today! I think it’ll be best in the summer, when the water is clear. 

I visited the museum and art gallery, grabbed a coffee, wrote my blog, dodged the rain and had a lovely old time!

Rebecca was off work mid week and we had a fabulous lazy day watching a documentary on last year’s Tour de France 🇫🇷 🚲 OMFG! It was insane and completely addictive. We are now planning to follow this year’s race. 

Feeling inspired I decided to take advantage of a beautiful sunny day and head out for a bike ride. 

I choose a different route to get to the Ocean Road, which google assured me was “Mainly Flat” Really Google? I don’t bloody think so! 😳 Obviously, to me, a small little incline is akin to the Col de la Loze (a 28k climb with a 24% gradient ) I’m sorry to say I walked my bike up the hill! I did however cycle just over 10k! Not bad on a bike that weighs about the same a a small car! 😂

I might have to relinquish my moniker “Cryogenic Claire” as I’ve had to go and purchase a fleecy blanket for my bed! It’s blooming freezing at night, and due to get colder. 😱

I have to have my window open, although this means I sleep all night with the smell of logs burning, which I’m sure some people like, I’m not so keen! 

I also seem to have developed hay fever! The grass pollen is high at the moment. 🤧

On Saturday we all headed inland to the Ferguson Valley. A beautiful valley of rolling hills gorgeous green pastures and the odd winery. 

We went to visit “Collie Dam” or “Wellington Dam” as it’s properly known. We visited the dam back in 2018. Since then it has had a stunning mural painted on it. Which is so striking, it looks almost like a photo. It was created by an Australian artist called Guido Van Helten The mural is called “Reflections”. 

The water level at the dam is only at 40% which is lower than this time last year. The levels of streamflow water have been declining due to Climate change. 

After a lovely stroll by the dam and the lake we headed to one of Rebecca & Chris’s favourite places. Ferguson Valley Cafe. We have all been here a few times. It’s a Winery that then opened a small Cafe selling Pizzas, the Pizzas are so, so good it’s now hugely popular. 

It’s in a gorgeous little spot looking over the valley. It feels a bit like The Shire, I half expected to see Gandalf go past in his wagon! 

Such a lovely day, really relaxing and chilled. 😎 

So it seems that I’ve actually read more books than I thought. 📚 

The Last Goodbye by Tim Weaver. Great book. It’s part of a series about a guy called David Racker who finds missing people. I love them. 

The Bullet that Missed by Richard Osman. The 3rd Thursday Murder Club book. Really loved it. The books are very funny and hugely entertaining. 

The Curse of the Flores Women by Angélica Lopes. I enjoyed this story of women past & present and the bonds that unite them. 

That’s it’s for today.

Have a great week everyone. 

Love & Hugs

🩷🩵💚💙💜❤️

Hi Guys.

Another week has flown by! I can’t believe I’ve been away for 2 weeks already it’s gone so quickly. Especially as I’m not exactly rushed off my feet right now! 😍

I managed to figure out why my photos weren’t loading onto the blog. After 6 years and hundreds of photos I’ve finally used up my storage capacity. 😂 Having researched it quite thoroughly, it appears that the best solution is to upgrade and get more gigabytes. I’m hopeful that this has sorted the problem and I’ll be good for at least another 6 years. 

The weather has continued to be unpredictable, lots of heavy rain and thunder storms. But it’s Australian rain and I love a storm so I’m not especially bothered.

It was a public holiday on Monday, so Rebecca was home. Chris had to travel to Darwin for work. Rebecca and I had a lovely chilled day together, we went swimming, well I swam and Rebecca used the ‘Walking Lane” in the other pool. 

I was very happy that I did 6 Lenghts. 

We had a lovely coffee by the ocean then went home to watch a film.

We ended up watching “Zone of Interest” which won an Oscar for Best International Film. As well it should. It is an incredibly powerful and difficult film to watch. There is an overwhelming sense of dread throughout the film, and leaves you emotionally drained. It’s a masterpiece of cinema. 

The sun came out on Tuesday so I cycled to the sports centre, through the park. 

I opted to swim in the non designated lane, as even the ‘slow lane’ is a bit quick for me. Perfectly illustrated by a couple my age in the ‘Medium Lane’ next to me swimming 3 lenghts for every 1 of mine!! 😂

However, I did swim 8 Lenghts!! The last 1/2 a length on my back, but hey, it’s still counts. I’m very happy with this. 

I enjoyed the Jacuzzi, steam and Sauna afterwards. 😌

Rebecca has been doing some First Aid Training this week, so I’ve been cooking and we’ve had some lovely, healthy meals. 

We had a Greek Night and I made, from scratch some delicious Butter Beans in a tomato sauce with a Greek salad. Tracey & Hayley, you would have been proud! 😚

Rebecca & Chris are both following a fairly strict meal plan at the moment. This requires very careful planning as Rebecca & Chris have the same meals but with different calorie contents. 

Rebecca wrote out a shopping list and I offered to do the shopping. 

It was a little stressful 😳 I’m used to shopping for 1 possibly 2 people, and with not a lot of meat. The shopping was very carnivorous! It was also very precise. I managed to get everything (so I thought) and in the process walked 5000 steps around Cole’s Supermarket! 

I discovered on Saturday night that my mistake had been buying one 250g pack of minced pork and not the specified 2250g!! Which is a ridiculous number anyway and an easy mistake to make….😬

My final swim of the week and I’m up to 9 Lenghts! I would have done 10 but my lane suddenly filled up with small children…😂

Rebecca and I had a lovely evening out on Friday, a few drinks in town, Happy Hour, so $6 Pints and wine, ( That’s around £3 ) bloody Bargin!  Followed by Fish & Chips at Aristos, so, so good. I had Snapper….yum. 😋

That’s about it for now. 

I’m nearly finished my book. So it’ll be in the next blog. 

Have a great Sunday lovelies. 

Lots of love. ❤️😘❤️

Good morning all. ❤️

I’ve had a lovely first week in Australia. 

The weather is still not playing nice! More on that later.

After my last blog the weather stayed dry enough for me to take the bike out for a leisurely ride to the beach. 

Rebecca’s bike is fab, but heavy, especially if, like me, you haven’t cycled for a while 😳

Luckily for me Bunbury is relatively flat. 

The paths are designed for pedestrians and cyclists which is great. The ride took me down past “The Big Swamp” a large Swamp (suprise suprise! ) just inland and next to Bunbury Wildlife Park. It’s a lovely peaceful area and it’s so nice cycling under the all the eucalyptus trees which smell gorgeous. There is very little traffic and very few people about. All in all a pleasant first cycle ride! 

One of great things about all the rain is the number of rainbows we’ve had 🌈 I love a good rainbow. They always make me think of my lovely friend Hayley. 🌈

I am now a member of the local sports centre and have been for 2 swims! 

A little background on myself and swimming. 

I’m not a great swimmer and it’s only been in the last 2 years that I’ve learnt to swim any sort of distance or confidently be in water that I can’t stand up in!! I also struggle with putting my head under water 😬

With this in mind the pool in Bunbury is a proper 50 meter competition pool, which also means that the deep end is bloody deep! 

It’s been a while since I swam so I was a little nervous about getting into the pool and then negotiating going under the lane dividers to reach the slow lane, 4 lanes in! My first length was ok, but I had to have a little word with myself when I reached half way and the depth increased. 

I was most definitely the slowest person in the pool I was also the only one doing breast stroke, but I am pleased to say that I did a whole 4 Lenghts without stopping. Today, my second swim, I did 6 Length’s comfortably. I’m very happy with this. ☺️

On Saturday Rebecca had organised for us to drive to a little town inland called, Pinjarra. They were having an Antique fair and a little Festival. The forecast wasn’t great, with storms supposedly coming late afternoon. 

The drive was great. Pinjarra is a lovely little agricultural town next to a river, The Murray River. (Not the great Murray River, which is in Eastern Australia) The Antique fair was fun, small but Rebecca managed to pick up a fab little west german pot (she’s a collector ) 

We then headed to the festival, stopping first in a fantastic local artisan collective, wow, so much talent. The wonderful lady in charge was very chatty, we explained we were in Pinjarra for the festival, she looked a little sad and explained that the festival had been cancelled due to the Storm forecast! 

This being said while we are all standing around in bright sunshine under cloudless blue skies!! 😟 but, hey Ho. 

We had a nice stroll along the river and some delicious lunch at a French patisserie. 

We got back to Bunbury as the clouds started to collect and the wind picked up! 

We had a quick drink on the waterfront then headed home. By now there was a Red storm warning in place, so we secured all the outside furniture and hunkered down.

The storm started building around 6.30 and by 9.30 it was a full on electrical storm with continuous lightning, thunder, high winds and torrential rain! It was bonkers! 😍🌩️🌪️ I loved it! 

The power went out at 9.30 and stayed off until 12pm the following day. Some areas were quite badly damaged, lots of uprooted trees and flooding.

I’m hoping we have a few nicer days this week. 

In happier news, Curly the cat likes me!! 😻😻😻

Some interesting, quirky things about Australia, which I love:

Cute little Avocado storage things…see pic. 

How quiet the roads are.

The rainbows.

The smell of the trees.

The wildlife.

How tidy it seems.

The coffee.

Things about Australia that I don’t love:

The cost of food.

The cost of drink. (Although Aldi Cotes De Provence Rosè Wine is reasonably priced, thank god!! 😍)

The wearing of socks & sliders…..or socks & crocs, Really, WTF! 🫣😀

The mullets! 

It’s been a great first week, I think I’m still a little tired. 😴

Unfortunately I haven’t managed to finish another book since Wednesday! Shameful.

We have watched the new Netflix Series “Eric” which was really good.

That’s all for now.

Have a great week.

Take care

❤️🌩️🌈🇦🇺😻🩷💙🩵

OK, so for some reason the site is not letting me upload any photos! Annoying.

I’ll look into it. And try to figure out the problem! I’ll post some pics on my FB.

xx

Good Morning!

Or should I say, G’day! 

I’d like to say that I’m writing this in sunny Australia, unfortunately the sun has been missing the last few days. 😳

So, let’s go back. I left you when I was in Heathrow hoping and praying for a good journey and obviously an upgrade 🤞 sadly the upgrade didn’t materialise, however the first leg of my journey was great, I had an aisle seat at the front of the plane, i was sat next to a lovely lady called, Laylani from the Philippines (I am now seriously considering adding the Philippines to my itinerary!) 

The food was good, the film selection great, I was happy to see they had Barbie, which I’d been saving for the flights. I opted not to watch films on this leg as I wanted to rest, and then stay awake in my second longer flight in order to try and sync myself to the time change. 

I managed to rest, not sleep, by listening to some beautiful classical music.  6 hours later I arrived in Doha, only 20 mins late. 

I had a 90 min break before my next flight, which was more than enough. 

The second flight boarded and I ended up in a row of 3 seats by myself, the joy!! 😂 it was also a huge A380, so very spacious and I was right near the front of the plane. I was a very happy lady. I checked the entertainment, Barbie was there as were a couple of other films I wanted to watch. 

The plane left the gate to depart, moved approximately 500 meters, then stopped, I could hear mechanical noises off and on, I was content initially watching Equaliser 3! We stayed stopped for nearly an hour before being told that there was a technical fault and we had to disembark! WTF! 😬 

We were taken through the airport to a food court and given some food, chicken curry. Then we waited for 3 hours before boarding another flight. 

Unfortunately this delay then made it very difficult for Rebecca to come and get me from the airport. It’s a long straight road to Perth, it takes 2hrs and she would now be driving in the early hours, the road is notorious for kangaroos, which makes it very dangerous. 

Rebecca & Chris hurriedly organised a hotel for me near the airport, which was great but that meant another night before I got to see my beautiful best big girl! 😢

I boarded the flight, feeling sad, found my row of 3 seats, happy days, oh but wait, here is some random woman who has asked for a better seat and is now in the window seat! Seriously! 😦 then I check the entertainment and for some reason there is no Barbie movie, no Equaliser 3!!  I’m tired, emotional and now I’m really pissed off! TBF my reaction to this was a tad disproportionate! 😂 I blame sleep deprivation! And Qatar airways for being shit. 

The 11 hour flight was not the best, my new neighbour spread herself over 2 seats and had a very nice sleep for 7 hours, I sat up, watched shit films, had shit food and drank water! I arrived in Perth hungry, tired & emotional. 😩

The bright side was the hotel was good, they picked me up from the airport, I slept. 

On Monday morning Rebecca & Chris arrived at 10am……it was absolutely fantastic to see them, lots of happy tears! 😍❤️

We decided to head straight back to Bunbury, as I was still tired. 

I haven’t been to Rebecca & Chris’s house since 2019 and they have made some changes, the best of which is a new fabulous pool in the back garden! 🩵 And Curly the cat 🐱😻 

The house looks great and it’s just so beautiful to be together. 

The weather is not really playing ball, we’ve had lots of rain, hailstones, thunderstorms and then the odd bit of sunshine. I guess it is heading into their winter, so to be expected. The weather though has been very unpredictable and odd here. 2 weeks ago they had a tornado literally down the road from the house! I’ll pop in a picture of what it did to a local community centre, insane. 

Rebecca & Chris are working so yesterday I went for a little cycle ride between the showers to the local sports centre, which is great. 

I’m going to join then I can swim and do classes. It’s not expensive and no penalties for closing and restarting your membership, handy for me coming and going. 

Today I’m chilling, writing this, then I’m going to cycle to the beach. (Weather permitting) 

I’m going to do the book reviews again, as I did last year. 

So far I’ve read 2 books.

The It girl. By Ruth Ware. This was an ok read, a murder mystery kind of thing set in Oxford. 

The Outside Boy. By Jeanine Cummins. This author wrote American Dirt. 

I absolutely loved this book. A great story, beautifully written. Set in Ireland. Highly recommend. 

Well, that’s all for now people.

Have a great week.

Lots of love.

ps. If you sign up for the blog, thank you! But also if you leave me a message, please pop your name on it because sometimes I have no idea who you are if your name isn’t in your email address. 👍😘❤️

Saturday 25th May 2024

Good morning!

It’s been a while so, welcome back or Hi and welcome if you’ve just signed up.

The last blog was back in September when I returned from my trip to Thailand. The following 9 months have seen a lot of changes!

I turned 60 on September 21st and had an absolutely fantastic birthday, a great party with lots of wonderful friends. But, 60 is a milestone and when you hit these milestones it makes you stop and think. You look at where you are, what your doing, how your feeling, you ask yourself am I living my best life? After pondering these questions, I decided that no, I wasn’t living my life to the full, changes needed to be made. 

I moved to Newquay in 2017 and I have absolutely loved it. I loved my apartment, being by the ocean, opening Coffee on the Corner. I have made so many beautiful friends. But over the last year or so my work life balance had become unbalanced, I was working longer hours than I wanted, my stress levels were higher than I would like. Something needed to change.

Initially my thoughts were to make smaller changes, then after a conversation one evening I decided, ‘fuck it’ let’s just make some radical changes. (There may have been some wine involved 😃) 

With that, I put my apartment up for sale, sold my beloved Coffee on the Corner, packed up my entire life and now here I am sitting in a Hotel at Heathrow airport waiting to board a flight to Australia! 🇦🇺😍

The plan is to travel for at least a year possibly more, starting with a long overdue visit to my gorgeous Rebecca in Australia. 

Once I’ve had a bit of a rest in Australia, it’s exhausting packing up a life! I will plan my trip in more detail.

For now, I’m just going to cross my fingers and pray that Qatar Airways up grade me, or a the very least don’t bump me off my flight! (See previous blogs) Then enjoy a relaxing 17 hrs in the air!

Newquay, thank you for all your wonderful goodbyes, you’ll all be pleased to know that I’ve finally left, wearing my essential travel cape!😂😂

See you all on the other side!

💚🩵💙💜❤️